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Yet more Rennershite


wuvvum

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I've got a bit of a thing about Renaults at the moment. So here's my latest acquisition.

 

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It's a Boston special edition, which means it's basically a GTL with colour-coded bits, a pop-up sunroof, boot spoiler and...

 

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a Turbo steering wheel. 8)

 

Being a 1400 it's adequately quick around town, though it does struggle a bit on the motorway. Those roof bars probably aren't helping, to be fair. They certainly don't help its crosswind stability... It handles OK though - I've never had the chance to hurl the Turbo around as with the state the tyres are in such behaviour would be asking for trouble. This one hangs on surprisingly well for something on 155x13 tyres. Bizarrely, the steering's heavier than the Turbo's on the move. Mechanically it seems good - the old boy who had it was a retired Renault technician and he seems to have looked after it quite well over the 15 years he had it. It certainly feels tighter than a R9 with nearly 130K on the clock has any right to. As with many Renaults of this generation, it seems to run rather hotter than I would like in traffic, but it doesn't overheat, and the flip side is that the heater is brilliant and warms up within about two minutes.

 

Although it's a D-plate, same as the Turbo, it's a Series 2, which means it has

 

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smoked tail light lenses. I'm trying to decide whether these would improve the looks of the Turbo if I were to transplant them or not. Funny thing - with the 9 Renault went from fitting coloured lenses on the early ones to smoked on the later ones; with the Laguna they did it the other way round. Anyway...

 

This one's tested till May and taxed till the end of this month, so I'm going to use it for a while and then decide what to do with it - I may just filch a couple of bits off it (spare wheel, possibly rear lights) for the Turbo and move it on, so if anyone's interested in about a month's time, it's unlikely to be expensive...

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Nice, that's the facelifted facelifted version! Later came the facelifted facelifted facelifted version, although I'm not sure that was available over here. It seemed to get uglier with every facelift, the final version even had rear lights that were smooth & rounded :? . I think if I was after an R9 it would have to be the pure X - B reg original 8) Personally I'd want to keep the turbo all original, on the outside anyway, in fact I'd even prefer it with the normal 9 front end but that's just me.

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Hang on...there are two sets of airvents in the middle of that dash. Don't tell me, you have some 'fake' airvents at the bottom near the centre console, to cover up what is presumably a very valuable/desirable ICE installation? :lol: My brother's 740 had same - obviously from the days of quality car tat, like fake carphones and those stick-on hands to go on the bootlid...
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Nice work! Mrs L has (finally) conceeded that a R9 / R11 would be a suitable replacement for her Suzuki when it finally goes off to meet its maker. Which is something of a result!Only problem there is it never goes wrong and just keeps passing MOTs!

I think if I was after an R9 it would have to be the pure X - B reg original

Id tend to agree with you, a A / B plate 9 GTS in black with black interior and alloys.... that would be full on Rennerporn in my eyes 8)
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now youve started me off again ,

feeling a little guilty having crushed low mileage y reg R9C !!! last year

to make up for it tried to find photos of US spec 2 door R9 i had some years back no luck so treating you to website i just found instead

http://www.arcticboy.com/Pages/arcticboysrenault.html

plus picture if i have sussed it now (Help me out if not )

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I had a 9TSE in the 1990s. I got it for £150 because the gearbox was shot. TS meant it had the faster version of the 1.4 engine and E meant it was laden with toys (by 1983 standards at least). I eventually sold it to make way for a Pug 505GTI Family, which turned out to be a moneypit.We had a 19 Diesel Saloon until last year. As far as I could tell that was just a re-skinned 9, it certainly felt identical from behind the wheel. It needed a few things done in the first year we had it but it became an extremely reliable and economical runabout. My wife wanted something a bit newer so it had to go.

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  • 2 weeks later...

And another one. Picked this up from Leicestershire today.

 

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It's a 1.4 auto, so I was expecting it to be quite nippy. It isn't. It's comically overgeared for a small auto - at 70 it's doing barely 3000rpm - which makes it great for long-distance cruising at 75-80 but absolutely useless for nipping out onto busy roundabouts and the like. It also has a worrying amount of play in the steering - suspect a worn UJ in the column as apparently they're a weak point on these. And it's running a bit lean as it needs a finger of choke to maintain 70 uphill. And the gearbox clonks into third, and the nearside CV joint clicks when turning. Other than that it's fine. No, seriously, it's not all that bad for an old 5, and with the steering fixed and a tune-up it'll be a good economical mile-muncher. And it has the usual R5 traits of comfy seats, tappety engine and on-the-doorhandles cornering. I don't think it was too bad a buy for £200, especially when that TL made over £170 with no MOT.

 

I also bought this on Tuesday.

 

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Only my second ADO16, and by far the better (and more expensive - £200!) of the two. This one has the bonus of being tax exempt, and it goes like the clappers too. Drove it all the way back from Hull on Tuesday night without missing a beat. And everything works - even the heated rear window. It had an engine rebuild 3000 miles ago so it doesn't use any oil or water, and the suspension has been pumped up recently so it has the full Hydrolastic bounce. I can't believe how well it goes round corners - my last one was on crossplies so understeered like buggery. This one has proper tyres and it sticks like a limpet, even in the wet. It's a bit scabby round the edges, but structurally it's rock solid, and it's completely useable as it is. I think this might take over from the 304 as my town runabout for now - the clutch on the Peugeot is nearing the end of its useful life and town driving will kill it sooner rather than later. The Austin's quicker than the Pug, too.

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It also has a worrying amount of play in the steering - suspect a worn UJ in the column as apparently they're a weak point on these.

Erm, nope. Had a look at this today and it's definitely the rack that has play in it. Bugger. Anyone got a spare steering rack for a Mk1 5 lying around?
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Guest greenvanman

It's a 1.4 auto, so I was expecting it to be quite nippy. It isn't. It's comically overgeared for a small auto - at 70 it's doing barely 3000rpm - which makes it great for long-distance cruising at 75-80 but absolutely useless for nipping out onto busy roundabouts and the like.

Have to agree entirely. My Aunt used to have one of those - Y reg IIRC - and I drove it from time to time. I only ever took it on short urban type journeys and trying to get it to do anything in a hurry in busy traffic - esp. roundabouts, as you said - was fraught with risk. It got traded in for a 205 auto (she's got a full licence but will only drive autos - has a automatic Liana now) after the gearbox grenaded itself.It does look nice though...
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hi wuvvum nice 5 youve got, but then i would say that !!can i mention that auto rack is different to manual 5 mk1 as pinion shaft is longer from rubber flex joint to rack body also to let you know that you can buy fro Q/hazell etc inner rack ball joints for abt £12 which is easier to change than whole rack if you get stuck i may have a rack paul

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